Dear Readers, enjoy the insights this book has to o er to help you to remember to run in an easy, light, and smooth way, with or without footwear of your choice. It is about form, joy, and the love of running. Run free!
—Micah True, Caballo Blanco de la Sierra Madre
Barefoot Running is the best book on the market on how to begin and excel at barefoot running. I highly recommend it.
—Michael Nirenberg, podiatric physician and surgeon, and author of America’s Podiatrist Blog
Barefoot Running arrives on the crest of a major paradigm shift in the world of running as, once again, we come to realize that nature is indeed best. Michael Sandler’s exhaustive treatment of the topic celebrates the amazing evolutionary success that is the human foot and serves as a comprehensive user’s guide for its rehabilitation and proper maintenance.
—Dr. Joseph Froncioni, MDCM, FRCS(C)
As Michael Sandler argues compellingly, there are lots of good neurological reasons to re-attach yourself to the holy ground that you walk on!
If predictability and reliability in the contact of your feet to the ground was a good thing, human evolution would have provided us with hooves! Reconnecting with the irregular earth for at least a short period of time every day is de nitely good for both your brain AND body!
Taking o those shoes, walking on a natural landscape where each step can provide a surprise, and feeling the earth between your toes for at least a short time every day is a very good idea, for brain and body alike!
—Michael M. Merzenich, Ph.D., Director of Scientific Learning Corporation,
Francis A. Sooy Chair of Otolaryngology in the Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
The history of running comes full circle with the publication of Barefoot Running. Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee join the ranks of Dean Karnazes and Christopher McDougall as prophets of running in the 21st century, showing us how to be smarter, lighter and better runners, just as our rst ancestors were so many millenia ago. Any runner
wanting to run with better form will like this book.
Michael Sandrock, author of Running with the Legends, and founder of One World Running
I’m often asked where to start. Now I can say, start here.
Marc Richard Silberman, MD Director, New Jersey Sports Medicine and Performance Center
Michael and Jessica have provided a guide to help you avoid and minimize the problems associated with awakening your feet and your body, by embracing your bare feet. The question is no longer, should we be barefoot? It is, how often, and how much? Barefoot Running is the best current synopsis of the evidence of the benefits of aware feet, and the most logical guide to attaining them.
Ray McClanahan, DPM, BS Ed, creator of Correct Toes, and founder of Northwest Foot & Ankle Clinic
For all the hi-tech innovations of the running shoe industry in the past decades, the truth is nally catching on. Nature has provided us with a feat of engineering so magni cent that it could never be replicated by science a pair of feet. In their natural state they are perfectly suited to running, and yet for many runners, particularly in the Western world, they have been devalued, underutilized, misused, and abused. The de nitive user’s manual Barefoot Running has nally been written. Sell your shoes, buy the book, and let your feet take you on breathtaking adventures previously undreamed of.
—Lorraine Mueller, four-time Olympian, Marathon Bronze Medalist, and author of On the Wings of Mercury
Michael Sandler’s experience and research gives any runner vital information on how to run healthier for decades, whether you choose to wear shoes or not. His principles and teaching on how the foot and body all work in proper anatomic function and how to correct dysfunctions is vitally important for running health and performance. I have been applying these principles for 10 years now, have not had injury, and still continue to run marathons in under 2:35 at age 43. Like Michael, I was told not to run 10 years ago after operations on my feet. You too can be your own coach armed with the right knowledge.
—Mark Cucuzzella, MD,
Associate Professor of Family Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine
Race Director, Freedoms Run and owner of Two Rivers Treads
The research is out and the evidence is clear that barefoot running puts less stress and
strain on your joints than running in footwear. Michael Sandler’s book, Barefoot Running, will teach you step-by-step how to transition from shod running back to natural running safely and effectively.
—Dr. James Stoxen, DC, President of Team Doctors, and member of the National Fitness Hall of Fame
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopied, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher Exceptions are made for brief excerpts to be used in published reviews
This publication is designed to provide general information regarding the subject matter covered. The author has taken reasonable precautions in the preparation of this book and believes the facts presented in the book are accurate as of the date it was written. However, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for any errors or omissions The author and publisher disclaim any liability resulting from the use or application of the information contained in this book. The information is not intended to serve as professional advice related to individual situations. In addition, the information in this book is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Before following any suggestions contained in this book, you should consult your health care provider Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage or injury allegedly arising as a consequence of your use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.
eISBN: 978-0-307-98594-1
RunBare Publishing
Email: info@RunBare.com
Web site: wwwRunBare com
For information about RunBare clinics, visit www.RunBare.com.
Cover and Book Design: Gregory Fields, wwwfieldsgraphics com
Studio Photography: Josephine Pham, J Pham Photography
Outdoor Photography: Jessica Lee and Michael Sandler
Stick Man Design: Jessica Lee and Michael Sandler
v3.1
Dedication
I opened up my eyes and there you were. You opened up my eyes and here we are.
When I started barefoot running a few years ago, it was only to heal. I was told I could no longer run, and couldn’t accept that. Once I went barefoot, everything changed. I went from constantly injured and running meek, to dancing on the trails and flying on the roads.
I’ve coached athletes for the better part of twenty years. Yet until I met Jessica Lee, the idea of teaching barefoot running never occurred to me. One day the Denver Post came out to photograph me chasing down cyclists, uphill barefoot, and it dawned on Jessica that I had an important story to share. Then she told us we should start a club. That club quickly grew to hundreds of members, dozens at a time showing up for our clinics. Then she said we should start a business, RunBare Company, and that began to take off. And then she said we should write this book.
None of this, from the club, to RunBare Company, to this book, our massive tour, clinics, products, reviews, you-name-it, would have existed without her. She opened up my eyes, and I’m forever thankful, and so I dedicate this book to her.
I also dedicate this book to Pumpkin and Sawa, our two four-leggers or little girls puppies at any age who’ve been the ultimate barefooters and have guided me and brightened our lives with their smiles, energy, and pure love of running.
Michael Sandler
I opened Michael’s eyes, but God opened mine.
It’s di cult for me to take credit for coming up with the ideas that Michael mentions, starting a club, a business, and writing a book. These ideas sort of bubbled up out of nowhere. They came to me at odd times, once while cooking eggs for breakfast, through conversations with friends, but often in meditations. Yet with the upsurge in popularity for barefoot running, the timing was perfect. The plan was perfect, a perfection neither Michael nor I are capable of. All I knew was, together, Michael and I could help a lot of people and the doors kept opening. Our job in essence was quite simple. All we had to do was to keep faith and continue stepping through the doors into the unknown.
Admittedly, doubts and fears arose, challenges that required what we so often called “squeezing through tight and narrow doorways.” And here’s where great teamwork came in. Michael was a constant reminder that anything is possible, as demonstrated by his belief that he would walk and even run again following his near-death accident. Though I’m apt to call him a cheese ball, Michael reminds me to witness the beauty of the world around me and the miracles that occur each and every day.
Our vision is simple. To help as many people as we can. What that looks like, we’ll only see when we arrive in the moment. We plan, we want to control, but in the end we have to let go. Ultimately, it’s not our plan. It’s a delicate balance and one of the
greatest lessons of our lifetimes.
Thank you God for bringing Michael into my life and for guiding us on this
journey.
—Jessica Lee
Foreword by Danny Dreyer
Introduction
Part I: Why on Earth Would You Want to Run Barefoot?
Barefoot Running vs. Running in Shoes
Get Grounded by Learning to Play (Again)
Humanplay: Dancing with Nature 4. Born to Run Barefoot: The Philosophy of an Age-Old Movement
Part II: Tear Off Your Shoes and Truly Feel the Earth Beneath Your Feet 5. On Your Mark, Get Set, Get Those Shoes Off 6. Anatomy of the Barefoot Strike and Stride 7. Turn Your Feet into Living Shoes
8. Barefoot Runner Maintenance Tips and Tools 9. On the Right Track with Nutrition Part III: Dancing with Nature
Weather or Not, Here I Come
Exploring Terrain
Overcoming the Agony of the Feet 13. Run with Wings on Your Feet
Part IV: Discovering and Rediscovering the Joy of Barefoot Running at Any Age
Barefoot Children 15. Barefoot Seniors Turn Back the Clock
Part V: If You Really Must Wear Something on Your Feet 16. Minimalist Shoes and Other Essential Gear
Notes
About the Authors
Resources
Acknowledgments
Index
Special Greeting from Barefoot Ted
I’ve often called Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run my quirky Ph.D. thesis I didn’t have to write. He was able to take everything I had learned about the fundamental human capacity of running, joyfully and minimally, and turn it into an epic book that has changed the thinking of a generation.
Michael Sandler’s book continues that theme.
Thousands upon thousands of folks have contacted me asking how they too can begin their barefoot journey. My solution has been to conduct introductory clinics to barefoot running and to share my stories on my blog Barefoot Ted’s Adventures. Many encourage me to write a how-to book about barefoot running.
Now I don’t have to write that book either. Here it is.
Michael Sandler has applied his passion and insights into barefoot running in a way no one else has so far. You are holding in your hands a book as exhaustive and accurate of a description of barefoot running as you could ever hope for.
I am proud of this book’s message and its attention to detail and quality of writing. I dare to say that this book will become a best-seller and inform millions about the bene ts of barefoot running—and not just the physical bene ts. Michael touches on the deeper, spiritual aspects of running and our deep connection with the earth, our ancestors, and all the other co-inhabitants on this planet. You will be inspired.
Once again the Universe has been generous to me and you and found someone who could thoughtfully and exhaustively write about a topic that will ultimately change the lives of all who read it and practice what it teaches.
You are a very lucky person. You were born with amazing capacities that are waiting reawakening. Taking off your shoes is a first big step.
Barefoot Ted
Barefoot Ted’s Adventures
www.BarefootTed.com
Foreword
by Danny Dreyer Coauthor of ChiRunning
Looking back on my childhood there were two days every year that will always stand out in my memory—one was my favorite and the other my least favorite.
My favorite day was the last day of school. I’d sit in class and count down the hours and minutes until that last bell rang because I knew it meant the freedom of summer vacation. I wouldn’t have to sit at a desk all day, and I could play to my heart’s content —and I didn’t have to wear shoes for three months—until my least favorite day. Back to school in the fall. The only time I was required to wear shoes was to go to church, when I had to wear those torturous ill-begotten things called “dress shoes.”
I remember ritually throwing away my “school” shoes on the last day of school and relishing the delightful sense of feeling the ground again. My feet were tender at rst, but I knew that within days I’d be running around, playing with my friends.
Those rst few barefoot days were rough, but there was no way around it. When I wanted to go over to my best friend’s house to play, I’d walk along seeking out every patch of grass I could nd. Gradually my feet would become more accustomed to the hardness of the streets and sidewalks, and eventually, I could handle even gravel roads. But all that was worth it because my whole body felt such joy without shoes.
Late in those hot August days, with September fast approaching, I began to dread putting shoes on again. My mother would always buy me a new pair for the school year, and when I’d rst put them on, they felt so clunky and sti , and just plain weird. I felt blocked from feeling the dirt between my toes. I couldn’t run and jump as easily, and I certainly couldn’t move as fast. The days of footloose freedom were over, and I begin my countdown to summer once again.
This repeating cycle of shod and unshod continued until middle school when I began to do summer jobs, most of which required wearing shoes. Inevitably, through the subsequent years I became more used to always wearing shoes, and I just accepted it as part of being an adult.
My story might sound familiar to you. If it does and you miss that sense of connection with the earth under your feet, you’ll appreciate this book. Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee have done a fabulous job of “reintroducing” us to barefooting, and we all have a lot to regain from this current “back to the future movement.”
That being said, I’m beginning to see even greater importance that going barefoot can have on us as a society. Consider this:
The 1950s started the Age of Convenience with a multitude of inventions designed to give Americans more free time the pop-up toaster, the modern refrigerator, TV, washers and dryers, jet passenger planes, Veg-a-matics, and more.
Then came the ’60s and ’70s and the dawning of the Age of Technology with computers, mobile telephones, wireless remote controls, pagers, and the rst video
games. Through the ’80s and ’90s we saw the boom of cell phones and personal computers and the Information Age in which we now have instant search-engine access to answers for almost any question…except maybe, “How can I stay grounded in the midst of all of this?”
We’ve spent the better part of the last 60 years evolving a lifestyle that has left us increasingly desensitized to the earth we live on. No doubt about it, we’ve become a society of talking heads that drift from one text message, email, or cell phone call to the next. It seems more fashionable to text or tweet than to talk in person. We engage in behavior patterns that cut us o from our bodies, and the vast majority of us are in desperate need of a convenient and easy way to reconnect with our bodies. I’d have to say that the quickest and most e ective way to balance out being stuck in your head is to direct your awareness to the place in your body that is the farthest from your head—to the soles of your feet.
Walking or running barefoot on a daily basis is the perfect antidote for a culture desperately needing to nd balance and grounding. Barefoot running and walking is free. It’s easy. It doesn’t take much time out of your day. And this is my favorite part: we have all loved going barefoot at some point in our lives, so there are no excuses. There’s a revolution afoot…so pass the word.
Danny Dreyer, Founder of ChiRunning and Coauthor with his
wife, Katherine, of
ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running and ChiWalking: Fitness Walking for Lifelong Health and Energy www.ChiRunning.com
Introduction
I fell into barefoot running entirely by accident literally.
On April second of 2006 I was injured in a near-death accident.
I’d been skating on a local bike path as I trained for a world-record attempt, a 4,000mile, solo coast-to-coast skate to help children with learning disabilities and attention de cit disorder. I’d done a similar journey in 2004, a 5,000-mile, 40-day, solo, unsupported bike ride across the U.S., which got me invited to speak in Washington, D.C., before the House and Senate.
On this day I had taken o my skates to meditate in the river, clear my mind, and pray for safety and guidance. Then I laced up my skates and pushed o . I’d been listening to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s audiobook Inspiration on my MP3 player. He’d just shared a beautiful story about a butter y that landed in his hands, before saying “everything happens for a reason.”
As I began skating again, I told myself to go slow, aware that on Sundays there would be tourists on the path. What happened next, I didn’t expect. A tourist father, teaching his baby son how to walk, inadvertently stepped out onto the bike path right before me. Though my GPS watch later showed I was doing a mere 5 miles an hour, I still didn’t have time to react.
In a split second I had a choice.
Hit the baby?
Or hit the deck?
No one hits a baby.
I somehow (through the grace of God) managed to throw myself up and backward—a move that would have made an Olympic high-jumper proud.
As I went through the air, I wondered if I’d still be able to do my cross-country skate. Then as I landed with a dull concussive THUD, I had my answer.
I was broken, and badly. But the baby and dad were all right.
The words of Dr. Dyer resonated through my head, “Everything happens for a reason.”
I wiggled my ngers, then my toes, then looked at the father, the boy, and the sun shining above. Life is good, I thought. Life is good.
And then, as I lay on the ground like a splayed, broken chicken, I grabbed my left leg, held my breath, and pulled it over to my right. This move likely saved my life. It turns out shards of my femur were less than a centimeter from my femoral artery. Had I moved wrong, or perhaps left my leg in that position, I would have bled to death. With that done, I began to smile.
I knew something amazingly positive would come out of this experience and had to —if I were to survive.
I was lucky to be alive, and it still took someone else’s blood coursing through my
veins to keep me going.
Doctors didn’t know if they could put my leg back together. But I knew something amazing would come of this experience.
And something did.
Though I now have a titanium femur and hip, and I’ve had a total of 10 knee operations and no left ACL, and despite being told I had the “world’s attest (and worst) feet” by podiatrist after podiatrist, I now run barefoot 10 to 20 miles a day.
Doctors said I’d never be able to run again, that I’d be lucky to keep my leg, and lucky to walk. But it was only by feeling the ground, by connecting to the earth, that I was able to heal, get balanced, and run again, despite one leg being shorter than the other. I’ve been a professional athlete and coach for the better part of 20 years, just not in the barefoot running world. However, with the inspiration of Jessica Lee, I now coach, write, and speak before others about barefoot running, healing, and connecting to the earth.
I know I was given a second lease on life, and a chance to help others.
“Everything happens for a reason.”
From Broken to Barefoot
After nding a way out of a rehab hospital, I ventured into nature to heal. At rst, I could crutch only a few hundred yards, alternating deep breathing and meditation to block the pain. But then, over time, my body relaxed and began to grow stronger. I went from a few hundred yards, to a few miles. I even crutched the Bolder Boulder 10K, and then the Denver Half-Marathon. I wanted to demonstrate how much we can accomplish if we believe in ourselves, no matter what.
From there I continued to spend more time in nature, crutching each morning before the sunrise, and then back again at dusk. I found something special at these times of the day, something sacred in the silence.
Being forced to go slow, I began viewing the world in a di erent way too. I was seeing things di erently, more vividly, and with vibrant color. One morning I stopped to stare at the dewdrop on a leaf, just as the sun began to rise. I began to see all the colors of the rainbow in that drop. It inspired me, and I began to cry. I soon began carrying my camera and capturing amazing healing pictures both at sunrise and sunset. They’re now available at galleries around the world.
And I continued to heal. I went from crutching, to walking, and then to jogging. Trouble was, once I tried running, my body began to fall apart. With a nearly 1-inch leg length discrepancy, I couldn’t get balanced, no matter how much I tried. I went from one overuse injury to another.
It was frustrating, being out on the trails, or out on the roads, stopping to modify my insoles or orthotics on the y, stu ng another heel wedge here, or trimming more cork there. Having worked with custom insoles and orthotics in the past, I was a walking insole modification shop. And yet I couldn’t get it right.
I wanted to scream out in profanity, or just to cry on the trails. Why couldn’t I run
pain-free?
I saw doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, and acupuncturists who all said the same thing, “You’ll never run again.”
I just couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. There had to be a way. What I needed was a dynamic super-computer that could change or modify my insoles on the y, depending on the terrain and condition of my feet.
And then one day, I accidentally stumbled upon the solution. As I was struggling on a hot summer’s “run,” future Olympic champion Constantina Diţă, training in Boulder’s high altitude, ew by me with a smile. I so desperately wanted to run like her: smiling, e ortlessly, and without su ering. In agony, I was frustrated and out of ideas. I didn’t even know how to get home without more grisly pain. And so, I took o my shoes, and limped home.
It was the best thing I ever could have done.
At home I looked up more cures for ailing feet, this time Morton’s toe. Maybe I had Morton’s toe and it was the cause of my problems. But on a Google search, I stumbled across an article by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joseph Froncioni entitled, “Athletic Footwear and Running Injuries: Essay on the Harmful E ects of Modern Running Shoes.” Since I’d just walked home barefoot, I decided to read the article. My jaw hit the floor.
Fewer injuries in less expensive shoes than in more expensive ones. Higher impact in a shoe than out. Perceived safety of cushioning actually harms feet. Better balance and control in thinner, less cushioned shoes. Children in third-world countries far less likely to have fallen arches and foot problems. The insights went on and on.
And so, two days later, I decided to give it a try. After all, I was already broken. What did I have to lose?
You’d think as a professional athlete I would have tried to see how far I could go barefoot. But I didn’t. Instead, as “Mr. Plantar Fasciitis” (I was known for acute plantar fasciitis just by walking across my living room oor without my custom orthotics and motion control shoes), I went out and jogged 100 yards on the local bike path. Then I walked home, grabbing the ground with my toes, trying to strengthen my arches. And then I iced, for two days straight.
On the third day I went out again. This time a bit farther, 200 yards. And then again, I iced.
Two days later I repeated, 300 yards. Then 400 yards. Going out every other day I began to get stronger and stronger.
Within three months I’d adapted on the roads, running 10Ks and fast, faster than I ever had in a shoe. And that was just the beginning. Now I’m running barefoot on trails, gravel, snow, hot melting asphalt, and more. I run 10 to 20 miles a day without shoes, and love running uphills, if not mountains, grabbing with my toes and bounding along. I’m even known to chase a cyclist or two on the road.
How did I do this despite being barefoot? Because being barefoot wasn’t the hindrance. Wearing shoes was. Since I was wearing shoes, I couldn’t feel the ground, modulate impact, learn to run light, or get balanced. Once I took o my shoes, my feet
began to wake up, to grow strong, and become springs. I became aware and in doing so became light, nimble, and far more e cient. I was no longer running, but dancing on the roads, with nature and with my surroundings.
My perception of the world around me changed too, as I become one with my world, rather than one trying to conquer it. I became more peaceful and quiet, as the incessant chatter of the mind melted away. And my running transformed—from a run to a dance, a dance with nature, a dance with my surroundings, a dance to heal, and a dance of joy. I was running again, mile after effortless mile, without pain, fast, light, and free!
Life-Altering Benefits of Barefoot Running
This book exists to share what I’ve learned with you, so that you can also reap the lifealtering benefits of barefoot running.
• If you’ve never run before, this book will be your guide to running with minimal injury and maximum health and joy.
• If you’re already a runner, this book will show you a much more satisfying way of getting into the zone and improving your stride, form, and performance.
• If you’re overcoming an injury as I was this book will explain how barefoot running can strengthen your feet and arches in ways you never dreamed possible.
• And if you’re simply craving a more spiritual connection to the world, barefoot running will give you that as well.
• If you aren’t ready to plunge fully into barefoot running, this book is still for you, as it explains how you can ease into barefoot running using minimalist shoes—and that some runners do well sticking with such shoes permanently.
Your Step-by-Step Guide
You won’t have to tear o your shoes until Chapter 5. First, I want to give you a brief introduction to barefoot running and why it’s so darned good for you even if you are among those who still think it’s a preposterous idea but were just curious enough to pick up this book.
These rst few chapters discuss why barefoot running is a safer alternative and even more satisfying than running shod. I expand my own story because, despite my at feet and a titanium rod in my leg, barefoot running saved my athletic career. Imagine what it might do for you.
Of course, new barefoot runners need some of the basics, and that’s in the chapters leading up to Chapter 5 as I help you work up to walking on a broad expanse of green
grass. We stride right into the warm-up exercises in preparation for a real road trip in chapters 6, 7, and 8.
Not every road is smooth and straight, so I’ll show you how to make your feet into allterrain vehicles and anticipate the roads less traveled and the unpredictable weather conditions in chapters 10 and 11.
This comprehensive guide would not be complete without a serious discussion of nutrition in Chapter 9. Unfortunately, injuries often come with running mostly while wearing shoes but they don’t have to be surprises, and surely you will need to know how to overcome any injuries that sideline you because you will want to be back out there quickly. Chapter 12 discusses the proven ways to stay healthy.
Two special populations that are often overlooked in books on running are children and seniors. Their special issues with barefoot running are discussed in chapters 14 and 15.
It seems odd to discuss footwear in a book about running without shoes, but Chapter 16 introduces you to the minimalist footwear that you might want to try rst or forever.
Once you’ve mastered the basics and discovered the joy in running and truly feeling the earth beneath your feet, you may remain barefoot for life.
PART I
Why on Earth Would You Want to Run Barefoot?
Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.
Charles M. Schulz
1 Barefoot Running vs. Running in Shoes
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
—Wayne Dyer
How could something we have for free—our bare feet—be better than something that costs $150?
For many, it seems counterintuitive that running barefoot could be superior to running shod. After all, shoes are designed to protect our feet, and modern running shoes are created by experts working with cutting-edge science and technology to maximize our comfort and safety.
What's seldom mentioned is that these increasingly expensive shoes have done nothing to reduce runner injuries. On the contrary, injuries to Achilles tendons, tibias, knees, and other essential body parts—have been going up over the years along with shoe prices. Just as surprising was a study that showed runners using shoes costing $95 and up had more than twice as many injuries as those wearing shoes costing $40 or less. The truth is that running in shoes is high impact, heel-centric, promotes bad form, is relatively unstable and in exible, tends to weaken rather than strengthen your feet, and dampens your connection to the world around you. In contrast, barefoot running is lowimpact, toe-centric, promotes good form, enhances stability and adaptability, strengthens your feet in miraculous ways, and provides delightful sensory and spiritual connections to the earth.
Low-Impact vs. High-Impact Running
(Why the Cheaper Shoes May Be the Best Bargain After All)
Our feet have the most nerve endings of any part of the body, tied only with our hands and genitals. And nerve endings aren’t to make us ticklish. They’re to help and protect us. So when we run, our feet have a natural desire to “feel” what’s going on. It allows them to adjust to different surface conditions on a moment-by-moment basis. When we wear cushioned shoes, though, it dampens the ability of our feet to sense what’s happening beneath them. We’ll therefore automatically hit the ground extra hard with each step just to compensate for not feeling the ground directly. Here’s how the problem was explained by orthopedic surgeon Joseph Froncioni in the pivotal article that changed my life:
During barefoot running, the ball of the foot strikes the ground rst and immediately starts sending signals to the spinal cord and brain about the magnitude of impact and
shear, getting most of its clues about this from the skin contact with the surface irregularities of the ground. Take away this contact by adding a cushioned substance and you immediately fool the system into underestimating the impact. Add a raised heel and the shod runner is forced to land on it. Strap the cushioning on tightly with the aid of a sophisticated lacing system and you block out shear as well, throwing the shockabsorption system even further into the dark. The system responds by landing harder in an attempt to compress the cushion and feel the ground.
Compounding this behavior is the belief propagated by advertising that superexpensive shoes provide super-protection, which leads runners to feel they can strike hard because their shoes are absorbing the impact. A study in Nature estimated a runner will strike the ground 2 to 3 times harder with shoes than without them, which helps explain why expensive shoes cause a higher percentage of injuries than the lesscushioned shoes purchased at lower cost. The greater the amount of cushioning, the more we automatically compensate by stepping with greater force and the more confident we feel that striking hard will do no harm.
In fact, though, the repeated high impact creates terrible stress on our ankles, knees, legs, and hips. The cumulative e ect of these micro-traumas to which we subject our bodies leads to stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and a variety of other ailments that sideline as many as two-thirds of runners each year.
Toe vs. Heel Running
(How to Harness the Greatest Marvel of the Human Body)
When we run barefoot and with proper form, we land on the balls of our toes. This dissipates the force of each step through our ligaments, tendons, and musculature. The 28 bones in our feet work in harmony with our muscles to absorb shock and bounce back. This giant spring is one of the greatest marvels of the human body.
Running shoes, however, typically include heavily cushioned heels. This leads our brains to think, land heel rst, it’s safest. The opposite is true. The calcaneous or heel bone is magnificently designed for walking, helping us balance over any kind of terrain, but while running, our bodies are designed to disengage the heel. When we don’t, we lose the natural spring created from toe running.
Landing on our heels instead sends the shock of the impact straight through to our ankles, knees, hips, back, and neck. It’s as if we’re striking bone on bone; once the shock travels past the shoe, there’s nothing to stop it or absorb the impact.
Natural (Light) Form vs. Poor Form Running
(How to Tell the Smart Runners from the Heavy-Footed Runners)
Babies run barefoot all the time. They move on sprightly tippy-toes, always leaning forward, letting gravity do the work. Then put that baby in shoes. Watch what happens. The baby suddenly becomes the spawn of Frankenstein, taking awkward robotic steps, landing hard, and teetering to stay upright.
What happened to the light, nimble toe dancing? It disappeared because the shoes locked the baby’s feet into awkward positions—and locked out the baby’s natural stride.
FOOT NOTE
Feel the ground, feel your form. Feel the ground, find your stride.
When you feel the ground, you unlock the hidden potential within. Wearing shoes demolishes that process. It’s not impossible to have good form with shoes on, but it’s harder and requires a lot more conscious effort.
In his bestselling book Born to Run, Christopher McDougall talks about running light. This is an essential skill for barefoot running. When we run light, we put less pressure on our joints and muscles, which allows us to run easier, longer, and with fewer injuries. Indeed, a way to identify which runners have good form is to simply close your eyes and listen.
At a recent clinic at New York’s Central Park, we stopped on the path to hear runners jogging by. We could pick out runners with poor form because we heard them coming from a block away: Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! with their heavily-cushioned shoes striking hard, heel first, onto the paved ground.
The runners with the best form, however, barely made a sound.
When you go barefoot running, listen to the sound your feet make on impact. The more silent you are, the more likely that you’re staying on the balls of your feet and achieving perfect strides.
When you become skilled at this technique, you’ll spook runners as you pass them because they won’t hear you coming.
But more importantly, you’ll go farther and faster than ever before. Because you’re putting less work into raising and lowering your body and less stress on your legs, you can devote more energy to moving forward. Run light and you’ll nd you can run hour after hour, for mile after mile, floating above the terrain almost effortlessly.
Stable and Adaptable vs. Blind Running (How to Harness the Super-Computer in Your Feet)
Feet have a massive group of nerves packed into them. That’s because they’re designed to be sensitive enough to feel minute changes in surface conditions and to make moment-by-moment adjustments to keep you continuously balanced and safe.
When you wear running shoes, however, it’s like wearing boxing gloves while operating heavy machinery (or putting on a blindfold before crossing the street). While
you might survive and accomplish your goals with such handicaps, it’s a lot harder to remain safe and to react effectively.
With shoes on, you can’t feel the ground, so your feet are deprived of the detailed moment-by-moment information they crave. Instead they’re sliding around in your shoes, which interferes with balance, and hitting the ground extra hard in an attempt to gather the information they’re blocked from obtaining directly through touch. Furthermore, your feet can’t grab or move freely within the shoes, and so are substantially limited in the adjustments they can make to provide you with optimal balance and stride.
You might even nd yourself curling your toes within your shoes—which is a natural reaction to what’s happening within an unnatural environment. Running in shoes gnarls the toes, as there’s no room for them to move, and awkward, unnatural movements over time can lead to medical ailments such as hammer toe in which the toes lose exibility, swell at the joints, and become permanently bent like little hammers pointed toward the ground. Who wants that?
When I was struggling day after day with orthotics and pain, I dreamed of a supercomputer that could instantaneously work with my feet. I imagined it adjusting my left orthotic one way, while simultaneously tilting the right one another way. Then a moment later lowering the heel of one foot because it suddenly needed a little more stability, and raising the other to compensate. This super-computer continued to make such micro-adjustments on a moment-by-moment basis to accommodate every tiny change in both my feet and surfaces.
What I desired was something smart and dynamic enough to handle continually di erent terrain and an always-changing body, so that no matter how strained, sore, or fatigued I became, my orthotics and shoes could adapt in an instant.
Thankfully, I came to realize that what I needed weren’t smarter shoes at all. Instead, I simply needed to stop muzzling the super-computer I was born with: the neurological biofeedback mechanism that goes from the acute senses at the bottom of my feet up through my brain, and back again.
There’s a reason our feet have been made so super-sensitive, and it’s not for tickling. It’s to read the ground and make changes on the y. You can turn on your own incredible, built-in super-computer by taking off your shoes.
Barefoot vs. Shod Running for Children
(Have We Learned Anything from the Ancient Art of Chinese Foot Binding?)
The longer children are barefoot, the greater are their chances of developing powerful, healthy feet with strong arches; and of their mastering balance, enduring impact, and achieving great form. A 1992 study of 2,300 Indian children found that the chances of developing at feet were over 3 times greater for the kids wearing shoes than for those going bare.
Certainly we abhor the ancient Chinese practice of foot binding. But it’s possible that
putting shoes on our children, as soon as they can stand, might be a bad parenting choice too. When it comes to shaping the foot, consider the ndings of Dr. Bernhard Zipfel and Professor Lee Berger: Studies of Asian populations whose feet were habitually either unshod, in thong-type sandals, or encased in non-constrictive coverings have shown increased forefoot widths when compared to those of shod populations. So shoes may not only weaken feet but increase the chances of deforming them. A healthy foot, as described later, grows wider to accommodate the forces of running and walking.
Parenting is a series of judgment calls, and choices aren’t always clear-cut. For example, if you live near dangerous surfaces that might cut or infect an unwary child, shoes may o er the best protection for your kids. That said, don’t make shoes the automatic or default choice. Except for those times when there are strong reasons to wear shoes, seriously consider letting your kids go barefoot.
Barefoot vs. Shod Running for the Elderly (Why Grandma Needs to Take Off Her Shoes to Stand Tall)
Even if I've convinced you that running bare is good for kids and adults, you may wonder whether it makes sense for older people, but at this point, you can guess my answer. When we get old, we often lose our sense of balance. In fact, one of the major sources of injury and death among the elderly is falling. Going without shoes an idea that many older people nd insane—just might give them a new sense of their natural balance and allay any fears of falling. But it’s tough to convince grandma.
Barefoot running, barefoot jogging, and even barefoot walking will help reactivate the senses in an elderly persons feet and restore the natural balance with which were born’and that shoes disrupt. Feeling the ground will also strengthen the feet, eventually resulting in greater bone density (an ongoing issue for old bones ravaged by osteoporosis), leg strength, core strength, and stability.
In addition, the stimulation of going barefoot will increase an older person’s desire to exercise. And there’s no better medicine for old age than regular exercise, as it helps avoid becoming bent and brittle and risking fractures, and staves o such killers as heart disease and countless other maladies. The path to going barefoot must be a slow, gradual process, and that’s especially critical for the elderly. But with patience, it can add additional years to an already long life.
2 Get Grounded by Learning to Play (Again)
The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.
—Buddha
We all yearn to reconnect with nature. This is visible in our art, entertainment, language, and prayers. In almost all that we do, on some level, we yearn to plug back in.
Throughout the history of mankind, for as long as there’ve been paintings, drawings, and petroglyphs, humans have been fascinated with nature. We desire to live in the mountains or down by the sea. We put lakes and parks in our cities and bring nature into our homes with aquariums and plants. We use owers to express love. We paint landscapes, we shoot panoramas, and baseball, our national pastime, takes place on a “field of dreams.”
As kids, we yearned to be outdoors. Sadly, there’s an epidemic of kids disconnected from nature. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, says today’s children have what he calls there’s “nature de cit disorder.” They’ve been cut o from nature and lost their chance to play outdoors and to connect or plug-in with the world around them.
It’s why we’re found at the beach on weekends, or in the country, or skiing on the slopes, or craving almost any other activity you can think of. In fact, even when we’re indoors watching a movie, chances are nature or a beautiful backdrop is featured prominently throughout the film.
For many, connecting with nature is what draws you to running and to this book. You yearn to breathe fresh air, quiet the mind, and to be outside—laughing, playing, and enjoying nature, as you once did as a child.
We’ve almost all become unplugged today. Too much work, too many computers, cell phones, and too many people crammed into high rises and out on the streets. We’re slaves to our lives, jobs, and furnishings. It seems there’s no end to the commitments, no time to breathe, and no time to be ourselves. And even when we do get outside, we often still feel disconnected’as if there’s something missing. It’s why we run with our iPods, or our cell phones, or any other distraction we can get our hands on.
Something’s missing. Something vital.
Recently, I saw a painting in a co ee shop, titled Sensual Stroll. It was a picture of a woman dancing barefoot through the grass. Why is it sensual? Because of the feelings and emotions evoked from being barefoot in the grass.
On the beach, we let our feet squish through the sand and feel the water lap our toes. In the parks, if we’re lucky, we take off our shoes and also dance through the grass. These sensual experiences hearken back to simpler times, to times as a child when we ran free without our shoes, until our parents made us put them on. Maybe learning to
tie our shoes wasn’t such a good thing after all. It meant we had to wear them. Or, as Danny Dreyer, author of ChiRunning, describes in his Foreword to this book, putting on shoes signaled the end of summer’s carefree barefoot days, a pair of squeaky new tieshoes, and the beginning of another year of grade school.
An Inch of Rubber Away from Nirvana
What’s missing today is a physical connection to the earth. We’re spending too much time indoors, and, even when we’re outside for a run, we’re separated by an inch of rubber, which is a fantastic resistor to electricity.
This brings us to the physics of getting grounded how we’re truly connected to the earth and vibrate at the same frequency of the earth, what that means to our health, and how barefoot running can help: sensually, physically, and spiritually.
On a spiritual level, we’re no longer connected to the ground from where we evolved. On a physical level, we’re no longer connected to the earth’s magnetic elds and particle charges. On a mental level, we see ourselves as distinctly separate from nature and other living beings.
Since the beginning, we’ve been in nature, not just foraging for food, not just to survive, but for our enjoyment and spiritual experiences as well. Organized religions give us scenes of Jesus in nature throughout the Bible and images of Buddha on his travels and path toward enlightenment. I contend that we’ve forgotten who we are spiritually.
Though in many ways we’re more advanced than at any other time, we’re also the most unplugged. We all feel a desire to connect, to feel the earth and get grounded again. We just have a hard time finding the way or letting ourselves do it.
Perhaps what’s missing is that we’re no longer touching the ground literally this time. It’s considered dirty, taboo, or even dangerous. As an advanced society, we’re told we no longer touch the earth in that way, and we’ve developed devices (shoes) to keep us above the ground.
As a species we were raised to hunt, farm, gather, and be outdoors. We never evolved to be indoors all day or to wear shoes. We have beautiful strong feet and an incredible means for connecting with nature.
At our barefoot running clinics, it’s nothing but ear-to-ear grins once participants shed their shoes and frolic in the grass. It’s not just physical; it’s soothing on an emotional and spiritual level.
Nature’s Drugstore
Disease, or its derivative dis-ease, comes from an unsettled mind. Connecting with the earth, plugging back in, quiets our minds. Spiritual author Deepak Chopra often describes disease as coming from stress and harmful chemicals (such as cortisol or stress hormones) ravaging our body.
Yet our mind may be the greatest drugstore on earth. We often don’t know how a
drug works, but know that it triggers the release of chemicals from the brain. When we’re grounded and having fun, even a simple smile can produce more powerful cancerghting and health-generating drugs than anything else in the world. Perhaps this is a great bene t of barefoot running connecting with the earth and taking those deep breaths helps heal and center us from deep within.
Getting in Sync
My dogs Pumpkin and Sawa want their food at exactly the same time every day. But how do they know it’s time to eat? They’re not wearing puppy watches, but their internal clock tells them when to wake, sleep, and even salivate for food. All animals except for humans with our arti cial light, computer screens, and TVs have synchronized their body clocks with that of the earth. By exercising regularly, particularly barefoot and feeling the ground, we can reconnect with and reset our internal clocks.
Reset your clock by getting outside barefooted, preferably at sunrise or sunset, each day. Curl your toes in the dirt, feel the grass, or scrunch along the pavement. I’d recommend walking or running outside on a routine, repetitive basis, particularly at sunrise and sunset, which tends to synchronize our bodies to the 24-hour cycle of the sun. Whatever hour of day you choose, try to go out every day at that same time. The body will learn when to rise and when to sleep, when to think, and when to go quiet. This body knowledge helps us let go, relax, and get in sync with the earth.
Spiritual Grounding Plugging into Source
Although you don’t need to be religious or spiritual to enjoy barefoot running, you may find the act of shedding your shoes and touching the ground to be a spiritual experience.
The nomenclature of spirituality isn’t what’s important. Call it God, Mother Nature, Universe, Chi, Love, Source, or whatever term best ts your belief system, but the universal power is all around us and supports us with life-giving energy. To me, touching the earth helps me plug back into Source. I tap into this life force and seem to be magically revitalized.
It’s as if while wearing shoes or being indoors all day, we become unplugged from an energy source, and when we’re barefoot and outdoors, we’re plugged back in when our feet touch the earth. If only we could run cars on that energy, we’d have the world energy crisis solved.
The physics of getting grounded
Getting grounded isn’t merely a spiritual feeling; it’s literally “grounded” in physics. Since the beginning of time, we humans have walked, slept, and spent most of our time with our bare feet on the ground, unaware that this physical contact transfers natural healing electrical energy to our bodies.
During the past 50 years or so, for the rst time in history, our modern lifestyle has disconnected us from the earth’s energy making us more vulnerable to stress and illness. We wear insulating rubber or synthetic-soled shoes, travel around in metal boxes with rubber wheels, and eat, sleep, and work in structures raised above the ground. New research is showing that when we reconnect to the earth by way of our bare feet, or by using a grounding device, a myriad of things happen to support health and vitality.
First, the earth immediately equalizes your body to the same energy level, or potential, as the earth, synchronizing your internal biological clock, hormonal cycles (like cortisol), and physiological rhythms. People who have used devices designed to maintain their connection with the surface of the earth when they sleep report that they sleep better, have less pain and stress, and recover faster from trauma.
Second, when you reconnect to the negatively charged electrons on the surface of the earth, the build-up of positively charged free radicals in your body that leads to in ammation is neutralized. Chronic in ammation has been implicated in all types of serious health issues including diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, leukemia, heart disease, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and many others. When research subjects were connected to the earth, medical thermal images showed decreased inflammation in only minutes.
Third, the human body carries an electrical charge and is swimming in a eld of electricity. When you connect to the earth, you can dissipate the electrical charge caused by a build-up of your body’s own electricity, and you are protecting yourself from the stressful electro-magnetic elds all around us. These may be harmful to both your physiology and psychology (and are particularly harmful to developing children).
No matter where you are on the earth (some places less than others), you’re constantly bombarded by these electro-magnetic waves. New studies and products continually address this issue, which some call “electro-pollution” or “geopathic” stress, referring to the geo-magnetic relationship between us as biological creatures and the geo-magnetically charged earth.
We’ve all had the experience of being shocked by static electricity. Recently, Jessie and I traveled the aisles of the local supermarket, being zapped by each other aisle after aisle. We carry a charge, and this charge builds up as we swim in a sea of electropollution from cell phones, cordless phones, electrical cords and wires, microwaves, refrigerators, and more. In our modern environments, unless we’re in direct contact with the earth, we’re carrying an extra electrical charge with our bodies throughout the day.
Unfortunately, as cell phone use becomes more ubiquitous, electro-pollution continues to rise, as do corresponding health risks. We’re not even safe in our beds at home; we’re still bombarded by electrical radiation as we sleep, from cell phone signals, household appliances, the wiring in the wall behind our beds, and even microwave towers miles down the street.
It turns out that the earth has a frequency, or a heartbeat, called the Schumann Resonance, of approximately 7.83 hertz. This number is important because it’s the same frequency our brains use to survive and thrive. In other words, our vibrations are
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The school-girls' treasury
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: The school-girls' treasury or, Stories for thoughtful girls.
Author: Lucy Ellen Guernsey
Release date: March 29, 2024 [eBook #73286]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1870
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCHOOLGIRLS' TREASURY ***
Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
THE SCHOOL-GIRLS'
TREASURY OR,
STORIES FOR THOUGHTFUL GIRLS.
BY LUCY ELLEN GUERNSEY
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE, NO. 2, BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, BY "THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE,"
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
ST. JOHNLAND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, SUFFOLK CO., N. Y.
IS PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL OF THE CHURCH OF THE INCARNATION, NEW YORK.
CONTENTS.
ANNA, OR, "MAKE THE BEST OF IT"
DORA, OR, "WON'T YOU EVER TELL?"
ESTHER'S BAD DAY, OR, "I COULDN'T HELP IT"
MARTHA, OR, "CHARITY THINKETH NO EVIL"
MARY, OR, "SHE MADE ME DO IT"
LOUISA, OR, "JUST ONE MINUTE"
THE SCHOOL-GIRLS' TREASURY
ANNA, OR, "MAKE THE BEST OF IT." Frontispiece.
ANNA, OR,
MAKE THE BEST OF IT.
YOU would not oftener see a pleasanter parlor than the one where Anna was sitting. It was handsomely and tastefully furnished, with abundance of pictures and prints on the walls. There were pretty chintz curtains to the one large window, and the couches and chairs were covered with the same material. There was a bright blazing fire burning in the grate, and a pretty kitten sat purring on the rug before it. The gas was lighted, and a table at Anna's elbow was strewn with books and magazines.
Yet Anna sat in her comfortable chair before the fire, looking very doleful indeed, and she had been sitting so for a whole hour. She had a book in her hand, but she was not reading: her eyes were apparently fixed on the kitten before the fire, and it was easy to see that a very little would make them overflow with tears. In fact, Anna felt very unhappy, and—in spite of her long frocks which she had worn for a full half year—very babyish indeed.
Anna had been left at home to keep house for a week, while her father and mother and the two younger children went to visit her grandfather. Anna had expected a very
dear friend to stay with her while her father and mother were gone. Lillie Adams was to have come by the evening train, and Anna had caused a dainty hot supper to be prepared for her; but instead of her friend, the postman brought a hurried letter from Lillie Adams, saying that her father had been suddenly called abroad on business and wished her to go with him: so she was going to Germany upon three days' notice, instead of coming to visit Anna.
This was a grievous disappointment, no doubt, and it was no wonder that Anna felt it; but she was not going to work to meet it in the right way.
She was making the worst instead of the best of the case. She would not eat a mouthful of the supper which had been prepared for her friend; she betook herself to none of her usual evening employments, but sat moodily before the fire, picturing to herself the merry group which would be assembled at her grandfather's fireside, and the delightful bustle in which Lillie Adams was engaged preparing to go abroad. And contrasting these things with her own lonely condition and the long tiresome week of solitude which was before her. There was great danger of the eyes overflowing, after all: when the opening of the door and the entrance of the cook made a moment's diversion.
Caroline Davis was a colored woman who had lived with Mrs. Grey ever since her marriage, and was regarded as a friend and counsellor by all the family, from the oldest to the youngest, especially by the children. She was apt to "speak her mind," as she said, on all occasions, especially when she thought she saw any of the children going wrong, and she had come to speak her mind now to her favorite, Miss Anna.
